Sacramento county

This year, a law passed in 2016 called the California Voter’s Choice Act changed voting in California exponentially during the midterm elections. The California Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) allowed voters to have more options on how, when and where they voted. This program was tested in five counties in California including Sacramento. Napa, Madera, Nevada and San Mateo.

The VCA allowed voters to have same-day voter registration, early voting up to 29 days prior, and the ability to vote by mail. Out of these five counties, Sacramento was the largest, and therefore it was very important to see the results from it. Voting in Sacramento was exponentially higher than previous years. According to an informational article by Hmong Innovating Politics, the 2014 general election voter turnout was 38.28%, whereas in 2018, the voter turnout increased to 68.32%.

“My experience as a new voter this year was very nerve-wracking,” said Arabesque Lynaolu, a newly-eighteen, first-time voter, “But exciting! It was my first time voting and I’m so glad I took the opportunity to. Although I didn’t mail in, having the option was convenient and I definitely will vote again. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

Overall, The Voters Choice Act seems to have changed voting as a whole. So much in fact that in 2020, all counties in California may opt-in.

Voting in California is changing. In 2016, the State of California passed the “California Voter’s Choice Act” which currently allows some counties to conduct elections under a new model that is supposed to provide greater flexibility and convenience for voters. In 2018, every registered voter in Madera, Napa, Nevada, San Mateo, and Sacramento counties will be mailed a ballot twenty-eight days before Election Day. Voters will have three options to return their ballot – they can mail it, they can drop in off in one of several county ballot drop boxes, or they can visit any vote center in their county. The traditional polling place in the participating counties will be replaced by new vote centers. Voters may cast their ballot at any vote center in their county instead of going to just one designated polling location. Vote centers have also been provided additional features to make voting easier and more convenient, such as voting by using an accessible voting machine, getting help and voting material in multiple languages, and registering to vote or updating their voter registration on-site.

In 2018, 14 counties were offered to conduct elections under the Voter’s Choice Act model: Calaveras, Inyo, Madera, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, and Tuolumne received permission from the Secretary of State’s office. All other counties not previously mentioned in California will adopt the Voter’s Choice Act in 2020.

California’s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, has worked with election experts, disability and language experts, and elections administrators in order to implement the Voter’s Choice Act. Padilla is also participating with the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials to coordinate the technical, logistical, and legal requirements of this new law.

“I think what’s most important to keep in mind is nothing in the Voter’s Choice Act changes the existing options that are available,” stated Dean Logan, President of CACEO. “You still have the option to vote in person, you still have the option to vote by mail; now you just have more availability, more locations, more days, more hours.”

On an additional note, California residents who are sixteen and seventeen years old can now pre-register online to vote. Once someone has pre-registered and meets all of the standards of California voter registration, their registration becomes automatically active on their 18th birthday. To pre-register, visit registertovote.ca.gov.

Thousands of people are currently without a home in the Sacramento region. In Sacramento County alone it is believed that the number of people who are currently experiencing homelessness has risen from 2822 to 3665 people over just a few years. To put it in perspective, the population of an average high school in California is just 999 students. Many of these people have been on the streets for years.

In August, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli, Sacramento Councilmember Jeff Harris and Sacramento Steps Forward Director Ryan Loofbourrow signed their names in bold and pledged to work together to stop the homelessness problem in Sacramento. However, recent public outcry from Sacramento citizens shows some of the disapproval of the current process.

Sacramento City Hall Near I Street

On November 8th, from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM, people will be holding hands and forming a human chain across I Street. The event is called “Hands Across I Street” and its purpose is to support a unified plan between the County and City of Sacramento to end the displacement. There is currently an agreement between the County and City to help people that are experiencing homelessness, however, there is yet to be a comprehensive plan.

“(There is) over $3 million in housing and services to help people experiencing homelessness,” stated the City of Sacramento Website.

“(There is) $1.35 million redesigned system for families experiencing homelessness,” stated the County Of Sacramento Website.

The County and City have their own individual plan to combat the problem, but the number of people experiencing destitution keeps rising in both places.

By holding hands and forming a human chain, the citizens hope to show that they want the County and City to work together in order to combat homelessness. Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Supervisor Kennedy will be attending the event. You can find out more about the event here.

How do the people of communities get to know the people around them? Recently, at Ethel L. Baker Elementary School, many volunteers, young and old, gathered to bond together through planting trees and helping out their own communities.

Though many are concerned about crime rates in Sacramento County, there is still a dispute over the best way to handle it. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department is seeking additional funding in order to improve on police presence in high-risk areas. Others insist that more unconventional measures are the key to bringing down crime in the county.

After a call to quorum, testimony for the public workshop began with Sheriff Scott Jones. Jones believes that improving on County Sheriff’s programs while cooperating with local organizations and communities can significantly cut down on crime.

Jones also highlighted the contrast in services between 2008 and today, after facing layoffs and reduced funding. While he recognized the importance of overall health in a community, the sheriff still called for additional funding for his department in order to increase its capacity to respond to emergencies.

“There are really two components to public safety. One is responding to 911 calls… the second is quality of life issues,” Jones said. “…the overall quality of life of a community has very little to do with our 911 response. You need both components.”

After testimony from the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney for the county Anne Schubert stepped up to the podium. While acknowledging the need for better emergency response, Schubert also emphasized preventative actions that could be taken outside the Sheriff’s Department.

“Community Government Relations Division… if we can prevent a crime on the front end, we’ll be safer as a community on the other end,” said DA Schubert.

Following the District Attorney was testimony from various community leaders, many working with Sacramento Area Congregations Together, or “ACT.” Pastors, youth organizers and concerned residents all took part in the workshop, some supporting the Sheriff’s Department request for additional funding, while others wanted the Board to consider other approaches.

One such member of the community was Bob Erlenbusch of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. In his view, protection and rehabilitation of the County’s homeless has much to do with crime rates and how thinly the Sheriff’s Department is spread.

Pastor Ellis Barbara Banks of the Christian Fellowship Church in Del Paso Heights also spoke to the Board of Supervisors. Banks concentrated on the health and wellbeing of the children in the community as a means of preventing crime.

“Education is the key to all of the stuff we’ve heard today. We’ve got to get them when they are young… but first we’ve got to get them alive… I am more concerned about our babies not living beyond two years.”

A hotly contested issue in California, healthcare for the state’s undocumented residents was the topic of a recent workshop held by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. Attendees of the nearly five hour meeting heard speakers from many different walks of life, voicing their concerns and weighing the benefits and risks of re-expanding health care options for the undocumented in Sacramento County. Support for renewing coverage for the undocumented was high.

The county hearing room, nearly filled to capacity for the occasion, heard testimony from politicians, blue collar workers, medical professionals, business leaders, and non-profit activists among others, with almost overwhelming support for bringing back health care for potentially thousands of residents in the area.

After a call to quorum, testimony began with Dr. Sherri Heller, Director of Health and Human Services for Sacramento County. Heller laid out seven potential options for restoring coverage, each considering issues like number of potential enrollees, cost and complexity, and what each option would actually cover. The eighth option, “to take no action,” needed little explanation.

The role of the Department of Health and Human Services in this hearing was not to recommend any actions, but to do its best to lay out the potential costs and outcomes of different scenarios based on its findings. Heller also compared existing models in other California counties. She went on to cite Fresno as an “unusual case” in the state for its access to specialty care.

The seven action-based options on the table offer a wide range of paths the county can take. They all, however, hinge greatly on the implementation of President Obama’s executive order that would give legal status to an estimated 40% of the country’s roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants. His executive order is currently on hold pending a decision on its legality.

Mayor Kevin Johnson gives his testimony

Later testimony included impassioned speeches from politicians, notably from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a strong supporter of the California Endowment’s #Health4All campaign.

The chamber was filled with applause as Johnson pledged to do “whatever it takes” to restore health coverage to the tens of thousands of undocumented residents in the region.

“That’s the Sacramento we believe in,” the mayor announced to his colleagues and constituents.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty stepped up to the podium as well, offering his personal experience in the emergency room and attesting to the many people he has seen there who use the ER for their primary care.

“I don’t think you wanted to shut the door on health care for thousands of Sacramentans,” said McCarty sympathetically to the Board.

While recognizing the circumstances that caused coverage to be cancelled for those Sacramentans, McCarty also stressed a point that many others have stressed as well, the unsustainability of denying coverage to so many residents of the county. With the average trip to the ER in the hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, the assemblyman argued that to rely on those services instead of re-expanding coverage would be “penny wise and pound foolish.”

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty takes his turn at the podium

Similar sentiments were voiced by important figures from across the state, such as Kings County Supervisor Richard Valle, who reminded the chamber of the role immigration has played throughout American history.

“Today’s immigrants are just as important as yesterday’s immigrants,” Valle affirmed.

As elected officials finished their remarks on this highly contested issue, groups granted ten minutes to speak rather than the usual two prepared their arguments.

Backed by dozens in the crowd wearing #Health4All campaign shirts, they made the case before the Board that restoring coverage for the undocumented helped citizens of the county as well.

Pointing out that “disease doesn’t discriminate,” they focused on the fact that keeping more people healthy, even those without documentation, would prevent the spread of illness and help to maintain a healthier, more productive community. For them, the answer is to allow those immigrants back into the health care system.

Following remarks from BHC leaders, Bishop Jaime Soto began with a sharp criticism of the 2009 decision that made this workshop necessary in the first place.

“The silence of the California leadership was deafening,” he said regarding the willingness at the time to let coverage for the undocumented disappear. The bishop also argued that the county had a moral and spiritual commitment to its undocumented population to restore health care access.

The final hours of the workshop were filled by testimony from ordinary citizens who patiently waited for their speaker slip to surface to the top of the pile.

“For two years I looked for a door that might open,” said one immigrant and mother of two who suffered along with her children from extensive medical issues. “At times I felt afraid.” She required a Spanish-to-English interpreter for her testimony, but her passion for the issue did not need translating.

A #Health4All supporter tells her story with the help of a translator

More speakers requiring translation followed, all with personal experiences on the undocumented side of the health care debate.

“I just want to work,” said one man, whose insurance was denied to treat a work-related injury. “I can’t work.” The man had difficulty walking as he exited the chamber.

Despite a flood of support for the #Health4All campaign, it was clear that not all in attendance agreed. One voice of dissent came from Davi Rodrigues, a ranking member of Save Our State in Sacramento, an organization considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be a hate group.

In his opening remarks, Rodrigues began with criticism of the term “undocumented immigrant” itself. The phrase, he said was “dreamed up by people who are in support of illegal immigration.”

He went on to offer an alternative not yet heard by the chamber: repatriation. Rodrigues believes that the immigrants’ countries of origin are “responsible for their own upkeep.” If an undocumented immigrant is in need of medical care, he proposes directing them to the proper medical facilities in their home countries, dismissing the possibility that poor medical care could be what drives many people from their home countries in the first place.

Rodrigues also disparaged the amount of money each option would cost the taxpayers, something his opponents insist would, due to a healthier working population, pay for itself.

“Out here is not your constituency,” he said to the Board with a finger pointed to the crowd behind him. “They’re hard at work. They’re the ones where the money comes from, and they can’t be here because this is a work day,” he added suggestively.

A frustrated Davi Rodrigues offers some solutions of his own

After being asked to finish his remarks, the SOS leader turned his frustration towards Chairman of the Board Phil Serna, whom he claimed did not grant him the six minutes owed to him as a non-profit organization. Serna denied receiving such a request from Rodrigues, to which he struck his hand on the podium, instructed the Chairman to “read your mail next time,” and promptly left the chamber. Testimony continued shortly thereafter.

The views of Davi Rodrigues were clearly not shared by most in the room, as the remaining speakers showed their resounding support for the #Health4All cause. And after dozens of testimonies, the workshop was adjourned.

Although no measures were actually voted on in this workshop, and with no vote officially planned yet, Wednesday’s meeting was an important step forward in the conversation. For the undocumented residents of Sacramento County, basic health care, considered to be a human right by some, is finally within reach.

12 million undocumented residents in the US. 1 million in California. 100,000 in Sacramento County. And many are uninsured under the Affordable Care Act.​ “An immigrant who meets all eligibility requirements, but is not in a satisfactory immigration status for full scope Medi-Cal is entitled to emergency and pregnancy-related services and, when needed, state-funded long-term care,” states the Medi-Cal website. Despite this, Sacramentans are doing what they can to help undocumented residents receive the care that they need.

In recent years, the State of California has passed laws to provide drivers licenses to undocumented residents. It has also passed the Trust Act, making it harder for the Federal Government to detain and deport illegal immigrants who are not criminals.

“Sacramento County has complied with these laws, but it has done little on its own to support undocumented families,” states Annie Fox, Lead Organizer, Sacramento Area Congregations Together. “For example, in 2009 Sacramento County passed a law saying the county would only provide healthcare to those who could prove lawful residency status, meaning any families including children were cut off from county health services.”

With 100,000 undocumented residents in Sacramento County, this type of legislation may put a strain on Sacramento’s quality of life.

​”County Supervisor Phil Serna has stood firmly that the county should reverse its stance on providing healthcare to the undocumented, and newly elected county supervisor to be Patrick Kennedy has also championed the issue,” says Fox. “The Sacramento News and Review has done some excellent reporting on the issue though other media outlets have largely ignored it.​”

Many believe that the​ county executives should allocate $2 million in the 2014-2015 county budget to cover health needs for undocumented families.

Both sides of this debate have points that hit close to home for many people. Compromise and constructive criticisms are needed to find a solution that is the most beneficent and effective for the Sacramento region.

In 2009, over 25% of Sacramento residents’ incomes were below poverty level. These residents may have found difficulties in finding a home financially suitable to their situation, due to a city-wide lack of affordable homes.

“There is a shortfall of over 52,000 homes affordable to Sacramento County’s very low-[income] …residents. Nearly 70% of very low-income households pay more than 50% of their income on rent, meaning [they are] extremely housing cost burdened,” says Darryl Rutherford, Executive Director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance (see here).

The Sacramento Housing Alliance and the California Housing Partnership Corporation authored the report in order to spread awareness regarding the current state of Sacramento’s housing market, which does not always provide economical housing to local families. Both organizations work to provide residents a more affordable housing market, as scores of people are affected by this issue.

According to the report, “more than 50 percent of ELI [extremely low-income] households are elderly or disabled, while VLI [very low-income] households are more likely to include low-wage workers… in fact, there are 156,455 workers in Sacramento County earning less than half the county’s median income.”

“These households are just one financial emergency (i.e. car breaking down needing repairs, health emergency, etc.) away from losing their homes,” Rutherford says. “Residents should be concerned given the rise of homelessness and there not being enough affordable homes nor financial resources to create new homes affordable to the working class such as nursing assistants, home health aids, preschool teachers, restaurant workers and waiters.”

Today, as we continue to experience the effects of one of the worst financial crises in U.S. history, many Americans face challenging economic burdens. But in this midst of these financial hardships across the nation, Americans also band together to help ease the struggle of alleviating their financial burdens. The U.S. government has done its part by providing over 40 million people with food stamps in February alone (Food Research and Action Center). Now, in Sacramento, the River City Food Bank has partnered with the Sacramento Hunger Coalition in order to spread hunger awareness by increasing community involvement and reaching out to state legislators.

“Hunger is one of those things in society that we can hide… you can’t walk into a classroom of children and go, ‘Hunger is a problem here,’” says Eileen Thomas, Executive Director of the River City Food Bank. “If you have children who are hungry, they won’t be able to learn in schools. If you have people who are trying to work, and they come to work hungry, they’re not going to be at their best… The community that you live in is only as good as it is healthy.”

Hunger Awareness Week’s aim was to bring community members together in order to end hunger in the Sacramento region. On May 20th, 21st, and 22nd, events designed to increase awareness brought community members closer to this goal.

On the 20th, the River City Food Bank hosted a seminar and discussion revolving around the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known to Californians as CalFresh. The seminar provided in-depth information on program, which provides food stamp assistance to millions of families nationwide.

“The goal of Calfresh is to… [provide] supplemental nutrition help,” Thomas adds. “It’s simply meant for those who are at a point when they can’t put food on the table for themselves and others. The goal is to make sure that they have the means to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy foods until they can [find] a job or go from part time to full time.”

On the 21st, Hunger Action Day at the Capitol provided Sacramentians, food stamp recipients, Food Bank clients and employees, and Sacramento Hunger Coalition members the opportunity to speak directly to legislators. Hunger Action Day reminded assembly-members that all laws have a direct and meaningful impact on citizens.

Finally, on May 22nd, a special showing and discussion of the film American Winter, which “puts a face on the country’s economic challenges and has the potential to humanize the discussion around these issues,” concluded the series of events (American Winter).